The cartoon features the adventures of a young bee named Hutch : the son of a Queen bee, Hutch is separated from his mother when his native beehive is destroyed by an attack of wasps. The series follows Hutch as he searches for his missing mother, in the midst of a frequently hostile nature.

The original show (1971) is notable for its frequently sad and cruel scripts. In many episodes, Hutch would befriend another insect, only to see his new friend die a violent and painful death.

Note that Hutch the bee is a orphan, in search of his mom. In lots of these cartoons of 1970s era, the protagonist are all orphans, searching for their parent, usually mom, and going thru hardship. You'll see several on this page.

Triton of the Sea 海王子

in the sea far away
there is a beautiful rainbow
the courageous sea prince, he is seeking
his home country, over the rainbow
the courageous sea prince, for the peace of the sea
he goes on this dangerous adventure, the fight
heh, heh, Sea Prince, hoho, sea prince
heh hoho heh, sea prince

5000 years ago, the Triton Family was living peacefully in Atlantis until the Poseidon Family destroyed them all out of jealousy for their successes. The race of merman was annihilated leaving Triton, the last survivor of his kind. Ruka took the orphaned Triton to Japan in order to protect him from his enemies. …

Note that in this story, the hero's name is Triton, and the bad guy's name is Poseidon. As a kid, i didn't know nothing about it. But now reading about it, you realize that these are borrowed from Greek Mythology. In this cartoon, Triton and Poseidon are enemies. In Greek mythology, Triton is son of Poseidon. (See also: A Love of Mythology of the Greeks.)

Vicky the Viking 北海小英雄

This story is in the background of Europe, the Viking. It is this story, i first learned about Vikings. As a 8 years-old boy, back then, i didn't give a shit about learning or knowledge, and i didn't really “learn” anything about Vikings, but i surely remember the particularly styled ships (called Longship), the pirate story, those helmets with horns, and i as remember, i loved it. Though, innocence get lost when you grew up. Today, the history of Vikings does not fascinate me, among the histories of great many world's cultures.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps; 小天使

This one i barely remember. I don't remember the song, but do remember this cartoon.

Heidi, Girl of the AlpsHeidi, episode 1.
小天使
title song in Chinese, Taiwan

“Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning”, usually abbreviated as Heidi, is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children" (as quoted from its subtitle) in 1880 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri.

As i now look at these tales, many of them really classics, of universal nature.

The Story of Perrine; 小英的故事

Based on the French novel, En Famille by Hector Malot, Perrine (also known as “Peline Paindavoine” in French Name) is the daughter of a French father and a half-Indian mother. Before dying, her father asks his wife and Perrine to return to their hometown. They lack the money for the trip, but when Perrine has the idea to use an old camera and sell portraits to the villagers, money becomes one resolved problem. Unfortunately, many tougher problems await Perrine, her mother, their faithful dog Baron and Palikare, their donkey.

Dinosaur Savers 恐龍救生隊

This one is particularly novel, because it combines drawing with model-based animation technique, somewhat similar to
Thunderbirds (TV series).

Epilogue

Watching them now, you find them extremely silly, childish, especially the scifi ones for boys. Exactly. That's what they are, children's cartoons. But when i was watching them at age ~10, it wasn't anything “childish”. It is your life. It is the chat at school, it is the lives to lookup to, it is the philosophy to learn from. Knowledge of the stories is a show of superiority, having the toys is a status symbol, being able to draw them, is a mark of genius, the admiration of peers. It was a BIG deal. The heros, heroines, their love, difficulties, are major parts of our life, just as we adults today regards with career, cars, housing, or even politics.

One big thanks to 張哲生 (Jason), who took the time to collect and annotate these old cartoons.
In fact he wrote a book 飛呀！科學小飛俠.
His website is: jasonforce.com. In the following, Chinese excerpts are usually from his youtube annotation, and English are usually from Wikipedia.